Political Economy and the Land 



manufactured, as well as disturbance of capital. 



This I know causes considerable apprehen- 

 sion in the minds of some important manu- 

 facturers. 



Another very important subject for the 

 consideration of the Royal Commission would 

 be the sources of supply of foodstuffs. 



The Empire could and should be self- 

 supporting; the Mother Country should in the 

 first place produce as much food as she pos- 

 sibly can, and then import the rest required 

 from her dominions over the seas. In par- 

 ticular — to cite one instance only — we import 

 about ;^45, 000,000 worth of meat annually, 

 only some ^^8, 000, 000 worth of which comes from 

 our colonies. In another chapter I have 

 pointed out how at least ^20,000,000 worth 

 more beef might be produced at home — the 

 remaining ^25,000,000 worth should clearly 

 come from our colonies. Imported foodstuff 

 is either given in exchange for English manu- 

 factured goods, or sent as interest on capital 

 invested in other countries, and it is therefore 

 necessary to guide capital into those channels 

 most beneficial to the empire at large. Such 

 an idea is naturally repulsive to the mind of 

 the out-and-out Free Trader, who probably 

 sticks to the tenets of that derelict school of 

 political economy which emanated from 

 Manchester. 



211 



